Some people’s senses are seriously offended by militaristic imagery (spiritually speaking) in religion. “Onward, Christian Soldiers”, spiritual “battle”, the whole armor of God”, fighting an “enemy”, etc. They believe it fosters an aggressive and violent mentality that is incapable of living at peace in the world. A few years ago some individuals in positions of authority within a Christian education environment told a young lady who had written some children’s lessons on Ephesians that used the “armor of God” theme that such violent and aggressive themes had no place in children’s Christian education.
What ever happened to “The Church Militant”…..ready to defy the conventions of the culture that conflict with the Christian’s call to personal and social holiness? Can we attain “The Church Triumphant” without it? We have an enemy…..his name is satan. It is a spiritual battle. If we pretend that the enemy or the battle don’t exist or fail to equip ourselves, our churches, and our children to engage in the battle through prayer and knowledge of the Word and of the enemy’s tactics, we become ineffective for Christ and the enemy runs rampant through our families, our churches, and our communities. (2/13/2016 CBB)
I Never Thought I’d See the Day … When Christians Wouldn’t Know They Were in a War…….by David Jeremiah
Biblically and practically, we are in a spiritual war. The Christian’s spiritual enemy is not in uniform, and he doesn’t meet us on an identifiable battlefield. He uses ruthless and unconventional tactics, such as deceit, deflection, and disguise. Many pastors and teachers ignore or downplay spiritual warfare to the point that many professing Christians don’t even know they’re in a war. This puts Christians in serious danger. The Church of Jesus Christ needs to know its enemy and his strategies. And above all, Christians need to know how to gain victory over this enemy.
Two things are happening today that I never thought I would live to see. First, spiritual warfare is getting much more intense and Satan is becoming much more real. Second, as mentioned, many Christians are not taking spiritual warfare seriously or even believing such a war is going on. These two factors taken together mean we have a crisis on our hands. When the danger increases and awareness decreases, an alarm needs to be sounded to prevent disaster.” 2/13/2016
I can hardly wait to hear what Pastor Craig Carter has to say about our “common enemy” and how to resist his assaults. This Sunday will be the second sermon in a series on spiritual battle. It is amazing to me how God sometimes puts us through the laboratory experience, then gives us the classroom lesson.
In my first professional sales job, with Proctor and Gamble, that’s what they did. They brought us in for orientation at “The Ivory Tower” in Cincinnati for basic training for a week, Then they sent us into the field to start practicing. Most of the time it was scary and miserable at first…..getting rejected regularly and making every possible mistake there is. Then, after about three months they brought us back into Cincinnati’s “Ivory Tower” for three weeks of intensive sales training. We had now experienced how much we didn’t know and the kinds of things we needed to know. So we were eager students. If we wanted to succeed, we had to learn the fine points of the process and the products; we had to practice, practice, practice; and we had to get our facts and figures and responses committed to memory and speak with conviction about the benefits of our products that came straight from the heart!
Over my Christian life these last 24 years I have been in several “basic training” times of study for spiritual battle. I have been in a lot of laboratory experiences, skirmishes in spiritual battle that mostly taught me how little I really knew about the enemy. Only now am I being truly equipped to recognize the enemy’s tactics, set up defenses, and go on the offensive against his forces. God has strengthened my ability to follow the commands of the One who leads the battle and do so in a way that actually takes ground!
It’s going to be an interesting few weeks in the “classroom” with Pastor Carter and others in the “War Room!” (Yes, as that movie shows, prayer is the primary tool in this battle! But there has to be a serious readiness to confront evil- wherever it lurks, inside or outside of one’s own camp- and step out of one’s place of safety, too!) I have watched the War Room movie a couple of times now and each time has been a blessing. CBB 2/13/2016